Rules of Play
Setup To set up Cave Troll, follow these steps in order: 1. Place Game Board: Open the game board and place it in the center of the play area. Game Overview Inside the Cave Troll s lair lie riches and dangers beyond one s wildest imagination. In Cave Troll, two to four players command brave heroes in an attempt to reap the most treasure from the dungeon. You must wield powerful artifacts and summon vile monsters to defeat your opponents! Object of the Game Each room of the game board has a gold value, which represents the amount of treasure contained in that room. Rooms are scored at various times during the game, earning gold for the player with the most heroes in that room. When the game ends, the player with the most gold wins. COMPONENTS 1 Game Board 2. Prepare Artifact Deck: Shuffle the artifact deck and place it facedown near the game board. 3. Choose Color: Each player chooses a color and gathers all the plastic pieces, player cards, and the reference sheet of that color. Keep the classic game side showing the diamond icon faceup. 4. Prepare Player Decks: Each player removes from his deck the seven cards with the star icon in the lower-left corner and returns them to the game box (these cards are used in the variant game; see page 4). Then, each player shuffles his deck and places it facedown in front on him. Diamond Icon Star Icon 5. Place Gold Counters: Each player places his gold counter on space 0 of the gold track along the edge of the board. 6. Draw Starting Hand: Each player draws the top card from his deck to create his starting hand. 68 Plastic Figures 7. Determine First Player: Randomly determine who takes the first turn. Playing the Game Cave Troll is played over a series of turns, beginning with the first player and proceeding clockwise. During his turn, a player can perform four actions (except during the first few turns of the game; see Escalating Action Rule on page 3). With each action, the player chooses one option from this list: 17 Red, 17 Blue, 17 Green, 17 Yellow 104 Player Cards 4 Gold Counters Adventurer Draw and Play a Card Move a Character Hero The Adventurer has no ability. NTs GAME ARIA HV ero Abilitie Hero Abilities no Paladin Choose 1 noncard Adventurer hero not (whose figure is on the board) from and your discard pile play that card. 3 Rampaging Troll Orc Action: Remove 1 hero from the Orc s room. Knight Wraith Grunt the Once per turn, when Giant Slayer enters an gold. empty room, gain 1 Giant Action: Remove the Slayer to remove 1 Rampaging Slayer s room. Troll from the Giant When the Wraith enters a room, push 1 character from that room to an adjacent space. Action: Push 1 character from the Wraith s room to an adjacent space. Dwarf When the Dwarf s room is scored, the printed gold value is doubled once for each Dwarf in the room. Banshee event Abilities move When performing a action, the Banshee can move up to 2 spaces. Place your Cave Troll 1 opposing Action: Move figure in any to room. Each space The Barbarian counts from an adjacent as player may move 1 of 2 heroes when character his itsbanshee s room space. characters When the Berserker s the from that room is scored. room is scored and an to an adjacent space; all other opponent has more heroes The Barbarian cannot figures are removed. be divide in that room than you, pushed by the Wraith. Characters cannot enter the gold evenly. the Cave Troll s room. a room The Berserker can enter characters. containing 5 opposing Berserker Barbarian Play an Artifact Monster Abilities The Adventurer has no ability. can The Rampaging Troll turn. move only once per Action: Push 2 characters from the Rampaging Troll s room to adjacent all spaces. Then, remove room. other figures from that Opposing characters (except Knights) cannot Heroes in the Paladin s enter the Knight s room. by room cannot be affected When the Knight enters Banshee or Grunt abilities. a space that contains any opposing Orcs, 1 Take Action: space remove all Orcs from thataction: space. Remove all Banshee from the Paladin s s opposing Adventurer and place it on any pit. from the Grunt s room. Giant Slayer Chalice of Life CLASSIC GAME rerabilities onster MAdventu Adventurer The Adventurer has ability. 6 Artifact Cards Use a Character Action 4 Reference Sheets Cave Troll A player can perform any combination of actions, and he can perform any action multiple times. For example, during his turn, a player can perform two Draw and Play a Card actions and two Move a Character actions. Each action is explained in detail in the following sections. event Ability Assassin Treasure Chest Thief Treasure Chest your Treasure Chest Place your Treasure Action: Place Placethe Chest Thief in any room. figure in any room. on any room figure or staircase Action: Remove 1 lone that does not Treasure The Treasure Chest increases an Chest increases Grunt or 1 lone hero opposing Thecontain by the value Knight. m the value of its room of its room by (except an Assassin)fro 4 gold. 4 gold. the Assassin s room. 2
ESCALATING ACTION RULE The player who takes the first turn of the game can perform only one action that turn. The player who takes the second turn can perform only two actions during his turn, and the next player who takes a turn can perform only three actions. From then on, all players can perform four actions during their turn. Draw and Play a Card Each player card contains a brief summary of the character or event effects and these summaries are also found on the reference sheet. The full rules for these effects can be found on pages 5 6. When a player performs this action, he draws one card from the top of his player deck and adds it to his hand. Then, he plays one card from his hand and resolves its effect. If the played card has a scoring icon, it is placed in the scoring pile (see Check for Scoring the Board ); otherwise, it is placed in a discard pile faceup in front of the owner. Placing and Removing Figures When a player plays a hero card, he places that hero figure on any staircase space. When a player plays a monster card (except for the Cave Troll; see Classic Abilities on page 5), he places that monster figure on any pit space. When a player is instructed to remove a figure, he takes it from the game board and places it back in his play area. Move a Character When a player performs this action, he moves one of his characters (either a hero or monster) on the board to an adjacent space. For more details, see Movement. Use a Character Action When a player performs this action, he chooses one of his characters on the board whose ability requires an action and resolves that ability. Abilities that require an action are preceded with the word Action. Play an Artifact In each player deck is a Find an Artifact card. When it is played, the player draws an artifact card from the artifact deck and places it facedown in front of him. When a player performs the Play an Artifact action, he reveals his facedown artifact card, resolves its effect, and returns it to the game box. Movement During the game, characters move around the dungeon, which consists of three types of spaces: staircases, pits, and rooms. Rooms are separated by walls and doorways. Staircase Pit Room When a player moves a character, he moves it from its current space to an adjacent space. Characters cannot move through walls, but they can move through doorways. Monsters can occupy any type of space. Heroes can occupy staircases and rooms, but cannot occupy pits for any reason. Staircases and pits can contain any number of characters; rooms can contain no more than five characters. A few character abilities, such as the Cave Troll and the Knight, prevent other characters from entering their room. For more details on these abilities, see pages 5 6. Scoring Players score rooms and gain gold when either situation occurs: Immediately after a player has placed a card in the scoring pile and the number of scoring icons in the scoring pile equals or exceeds five, each room on the board that contains heroes is scored (see Check For Scoring the Board below). When a player plays his Score a Room card, he chooses one room and scores only that room (see Scoring a Room ). Check for Scoring the Board Some cards contain a scoring icon at the bottom of the card. After a card with one or more scoring icons is played and resolved, it is placed faceup in the scoring pile instead of the owner s discard pile. If there are no cards in the scoring pile, the current player creates a new scoring pile near the game board. If the card just placed in the scoring pile causes the total number of scoring icons to equal or exceed five total icons, the entire board is scored, one room at a time. Each room on the board that contains heroes is scored (see Scoring a Room ). Wall Doorway Scoring Icon 3
After all rooms on the board have been scored, all cards in the scoring pile are returned to the game box, and play resumes where it was interrupted for scoring the board. Scoring a Room When a room is scored, the first step is to determine which player controls the room. The player with the most heroes in a room controls that room. The controlling player gains an amount of gold equal to the room s gold value, advancing his gold counter that many spaces along the gold track. A 4-gold Room In the case of a tie for control of a room, no players gain gold for that room during this scoring. Winning the Game The game ends after a player finishes an action and he has no cards remaining in his game deck. That player gains 3 gold. The board is then scored one last time. Any players with unused artifact cards gain gold equal to the number printed on the gold coin in the lower-right corner of the card. The player with the most gold wins! The Variant Game Each player has a variant set of character cards marked with a star icon in the lower-left corner. These variant characters are represented by the same plastic figures, but they have different abilities. During setup, all players can choose to use the variant set of character cards instead of the standard set. To do this, each player replaces the seven standard character cards (showing the diamond icon) with the seven variant cards (showing the star icon). Note that Adventurer cards do not have an icon and are used when playing with either set of cards. When playing the variant game, be sure to use the reverse side of the reference sheet, titled Variant Game, with the matching star icon. This side explains the character abilities used in the variant game. Star Icon EXAMPLE OF A TURN 3 2 4 1 The red player begins his turn with four actions. Action 1: The wall prevents him from moving this Adventurer to the staircase on its left. He cannot move it to the lower-left room because it already contains five characters, and the blue Cave Troll prevents him from moving it to the lower-right room. He chooses to move it to the room above. Action 2: The Wraith s ability allows it to be moved to the lower-right room (which already contains five characters), however the red player must immediately push one character out of that room. He chooses to push the blue Orc to the adjacent room on the left. Action 3: The red player uses the Wraith s action ability to push the blue Thief into the same room as the blue Orc. Action 4: The red player chooses to move his Orc, which he can move to either adjacent room. He decides to move it to the room below. 4
Classic Abilities This section provides a list of rules and clarifications for the abilities found when playing the classic game. Adventurer The Adventurer has no ability. Knight Opposing characters (except Knights) cannot enter the Knight s room. When the Knight enters a space that contains any Orcs, remove all Orcs from that space. When a Knight enters a room that contains opposing characters, they remain in the room. Dwarf When the Dwarf s room is scored, the printed gold value is doubled once for each Dwarf in the room. The room s gold value is doubled regardless of which player controls the room. If a Dwarf is in the same room as a treasure chest, the increased value provided by the treasure chest is not doubled. Barbarian The Barbarian counts as two heroes when its room is scored. The Barbarian cannot be pushed by the Wraith. The Barbarian counts as two heroes only when his room is scored. At all other times, the Barbarian counts as one hero. Thief Action: Place the Thief on any room or staircase that does not contain an opposing Knight. The Thief cannot use its action ability to enter a room that contains an opposing Knight. Cave Troll Place your Cave Troll figure in any room. Each player may move one of his characters from that room to an adjacent space; all other figures are removed. Characters cannot enter the Cave Troll s room. The Cave Troll cannot be placed on a staircase or a pit, but it can be placed in a room that contains a Knight. The Cave Troll s effect removes all figures remaining in the room (including treasure chests and friendly characters) from the board. A Cave Troll cannot move or be moved. Orc Action: Remove one hero from the Orc s room. Wraith When the Wraith enters a room, push one character from that room to an adjacent space. Action: Push one character from the Wraith s room to an adjacent space. A Wraith can enter a room that already contains five characters in order to push a character out of that room. The Wraith cannot use its ability to push a hero to a pit. Treasure Chest Place your Treasure Chest figure in any room. The Treasure Chest increases the value of its room by four gold. The Treasure Chest cannot move or be moved. 5
Variant Abilities This section provides a list of rules and clarifications for the abilities found when playing the variant game. Giant Slayer Once per turn, when the Giant Slayer enters an empty room, gain one gold. Action: Remove the Giant Slayer to remove one Rampaging Troll from the Giant Slayer s room. Paladin Heroes in the Paladin s room cannot be affected by Banshee or Grunt abilities. Action: Take one opposing Banshee from the Paladin s space and place it on any pit. Berserker When the Berserker s room is scored and an opponent has more heroes in that room than you, divide the gold evenly. The Berserker can enter a room containing five opposing characters. The Berserker can enter a room that already contains exactly five characters only if none of his characters are present. Gold is divided evenly amongst the controlling player and any other player(s) with a Berserker in the room. Any remaning gold is lost. Assassin Action: Remove one lone Grunt or one lone hero (except an Assassin) from the Assassin s room. A character is considered lone when it is the only character of a player s color in a room. Rampaging Troll The Rampaging Troll can move only once per turn. Action: Push two characters from the Rampaging Troll s room to adjacent spaces. Then, remove all other figures from that room. Grunt Action: Remove all opposing Adventurers from the Grunt s room. Banshee When performing a move action, the Banshee can move up to two spaces. Action: Move one opposing character from an adjacent space to the Banshee s space. The Banshee cannot use its ability if its current space already contains five characters. The only exception to this is the Berserker, which the Banshee can pull to its space, following the rules for the Bersker s ability. Credits Game Design: Tom Jolly Game Development: Corey Konieczka Producer: Derrick Fuchs Editing & Proofreading: Christopher Meyer with Nathan Hajek Graphic Design: Christopher Hosch Graphic Design Manager: Brian Schomburg Cover Art: James Ryman Board Art: Henning Ludvigsen Character Art: Allan Bednar Managing Art Director: Andy Christensen Production Management: Megan Duehn and Simone Elliott Production Coordination: John Britton, Jason Glawe, and Johanna Whiting Board Game Manager: Steven Kimball Executive Game Designer: Corey Konieczka Executive Producer: Michael Hurley Publisher: Christian T. Petersen 2015 Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. No part of this product may be reproduced without specific permission. Cave Troll and Fantasy Flight Supply are TM of Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. Fantasy Flight Games and the FFG logo are of Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. Fantasy Flight Games is located at 1995 West County Road B2, Roseville, Minnesota, 55113, USA, 651-639-1905. Actual components may vary from those shown. Made in China. THIS PRODUCT IS NOT A TOY. NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY PERSONS 13 YEARS OF AGE OR YOUNGER. 6